Nduom is back on the ballot sheet

An Accra High Court has directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to restore Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, the flagbearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), to contest as a presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.

The decision was announced on Friday after the PPP won its court case against the EC, challenging the its earlier disqualification of Dr. Nduom from the December elections. The court has asked the EC to allow Dr. Nduom to make necessary corrections to his nomination forms and resubmit.

According to Citi News’ report, the ruling was marked by a wild jubilation from many supporters who had gathered at the court premises. The report says, “Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, ruled that the EC breached the regulation governing Ghana’s elections (CI 94) by not allowing Dr. Nduom to correct the mistakes on the forms he submitted.”

Dr. Nduom was among 13 presidential aspirants who were earlier this month disqualified by the EC to contest in the 2016 elections because of anomalies in their nomination forms. The party went to court to seek an order to allow their flagbearer to contest in the elections and to prevent the EC from going ahead to ballot the positions of the 4 qualified political parties, until the final ruling of the court comes.

The PPP now joins 4 other political parties that received approval from the EC to contest in the elections. The 4 political parties and their presidential candidates are; Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo of New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Dramani Mahama of National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate.